How Do You Recover a Swallowed Dental Crown?

Recovering foreign bodies, such as dental crowns, that have been swallowed involves checking the stool at home for several days until they pass, according to Summit Medical Group. This is done by collecting the stool on newspaper and cutting it with a knife or straining it through a sieve.

A dental crown that does not pass in the stool within seven days means that an evaluation by a doctor is in order, according to the University of Michigan Health System. Other symptoms that should be checked out by a doctor include blood in the stool, which presents as red, black or tarry stools; vomiting, especially if the vomit contains blood; shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing and pain in the chest, which indicate the crown has been aspirated or lodged in the esophagus rather than swallowed; and pain in the belly.

Most foreign objects pass through the body without issue, states Drugs.com, but a dental crown that gets stuck in the stomach or esophagus or results in infection requires medical tests, including CT scans, endoscopy and various types of x-rays, to locate. Retrieval options include surgery, retrieving the crown through the esophagus using forceps or a net, and pushing the crown further down the esophagus and into the stomach so it passes through the digestive system.